A variety of techniques can be employed to discourage the unauthorized release of information. The canary trap, or barium meal trap, is just one example that can be useful for identifying the source of and discouraging leaks. With respect to software development, it has become common for screen shots, product roadmaps, and other sensitive content to be leaked prior to the general release of an application. Unfortunately, the source of a leak may be someone on the development team or some other trusted person, making prevention especially difficult in view of their privileged access.
One technique for discouraging software leaks involves digital fingerprinting whereby a fingerprint is generated based on the identity of a user attempting to copy an application from within a development environment. The fingerprint is then copied along with the application such that the identity of the user can be determined upon recovery of the application. While fingerprinting can be effective in discouraging leaks, recovering an unauthorized copy of an application can be difficult and is sometimes unlikely to occur.
Another technique for discouraging leaks involves digital watermarking whereby the identity of a user associated with a runtime environment is encoded into an image that is then leaked via a screen shot. While also effective in some respects, developers or others with privileged access may know where in the image their identity is encoded. For example, the watermarking can be circumvented by obscuring or otherwise eliminating that portion of the image from the screen shot leaked to the public.